#cupbearer system

[c-is-for-coin]

Spiralbearer

Gender related to being a cupbearer for the Spiral / an avatar of the Spiral cupbearer. They are connected to the Spiral from the Magnus Archives, Spiral aesthetics, cupbearer aesthetics, divine aesthetics, and royal aesthetics. It may also be related to drink-related genders, but doesn't have to be

Tagging @radiomogai and @obscurian

[missglaskin]

i feel like Otto would use Daemon and Rhaenyra’s secret wedding, mere days after their partners funerals, as the sole ammunition to have Rhaenyra disinherited and second-born!Reader named the Princess of Dragonstone after Otto reminds Viserys the sole reason Rhaenyra was chosen was to prevent Daemon from having the throne. and Alicent will begin planting the seeds of a doubt in Viserys mind that some may not want a the Reader on a throne because she’s adopted but if she married Aegon, the firstborn son, she wouldn’t be contested. that Aegon was better fitted as a consort anyways.

and the Velaryons have mixed feelings about the whole ordeal because Corlys really wanted his blood on the throne but Rhaenys believes the reader will be a much better ruler.

she’s kind of like the “peoples princess” if that makes sense. from a young age she began serving as the king’s cupbearer, allowing her the opportunity to watch the council work, and even there were times when she spoke up. advocating on behalf of the servants for better living conditions or pushing for repairs on the sewage system underneath the city.

not even Rhaenyra could deny that the reader would make a good queen but there’s some resentment directed to her father, angry he still won’t accept that she loves Daemon and there confusion as she watches Daemon wrap a beautiful necklace around the reader’s neck

I apologize for the long haitus, I wanted to return with something so here it is.

The plot just thickens

Before Daemon and Rhaenyra secret wedding, Alicent was already sowing seeds of doubt in Viserys's mind (the reader doesn't have any bastards, last she checked but even so it doesn’t count).And it would be a great irony if Viserys sent Otto away thinking he wanted Aegon to be king (which might be partially true), when in reality it’s the reader he desired to be in the throne. With Lyonel's death, and Rhaenyra's decision to move to Dragonstone with Laenor despite wanting to stay with her sister. Otto and Alicent are only given a better advantage to continue casting doubt on Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra and Daemon's marriage seals the deal, and soon after, they are summoned by a raven from King's Landing.

While the Velaryons may have mixed feelings, they are all in support of the reader in being the chosen heir. It’s Rhaenys who encourages Corlys’ decision to swear his fealty to her. It doesn’t help that Rhaenys believes Rhaenyra and Daemon are the cause for her son’s death and them marrying right after Laena’s death only adds salt to the wound. Rhaenys genuinely believes the reader will be a much better ruler. 

When the reader is named heir, there is one final step for both Alicent and Otto to ensure her position (or as they like to say). So it comes as little surprise when the reader is revealed to be wed to Aegon. She already has gained a great deal of knowledge regarding politics throughout the years she was compelled to relocate to accommodate the entire family, from Driftmark to King's Landing to Dragonstone. Alicent and Otto took a step further in letting the reader act as the king's cupbearer, and Viserys naturally agreed. Unlike Rhaenyra who felt undermined in the council, the reader isn't cut off when advocating for herself, rather, she's backed by the green council. 

As you mentioned, she has earned the title of the "people's princess” through her charity, her advocacy for improved living conditions for the castle's servants as well insistence on repairing the sewage systems and for better roads. Tales abound in the city about the princess who visits orphanages, escorted, of course, by the finest knights, among them Ser Criston Cole. With all of that, simply wedding the reader to Aegon, already wins him favor at king's landing, besides, it's evident to the court that it's the reader who holds all the power.

It's an internal struggle for Rhaenyra; she feels waves of resentment and anger, sometimes aimed at her father and other times at the reader. But, she can never take the reader's actions personally, not after she offers Rhaenyra dragonstone or when she vows to make her the hand when she ascends the iron throne. So how can she ever be genuinely upset at her beloved sister whom she also thinks would make a wonderful queen?

And for Daemon, whom she observes draping a beautiful necklace—akin to the one he gave her years ago—around her sister's neck. She observes as her ever naive sister turns to face him, beaming as thanks him for the gift.

And for Daemon who she watches wrapping a beautiful necklace around her sister’s neck, similar to the one he gifted her a long time ago. She watches as her sister turns to him, beaming and thanking him for the gift, her sister so naive and innocent. But it won’t be long before Viserys catches wind of it, and if not him, Otto and Alicent will and this is the last thing they ever wish to happen. For they know, no matter how many times they Banish Daemon, he will always find his way to return to your side.

[alicentofficial]

sorry i know game of thrones is dead and this last season has been completely ripped apart for everything that’s wrong with it but TO THIS DAY the thing that pisses me off the most is arya laughing in this scene. arya, who spent the majority of the show + books living as one of the smallfolk? who literally said to lowborn gendry ‘i can be your family’? who was tywins cupbearer and experienced firsthand the way highborn people treat smallfolk as though they are literally lesser beings? who has spent the entire series learning that lowborn people are just as capable and worthy of respect as her? so glad she moved back to winterfell for two weeks and decided that highborn people actually ARE inherently better and that oligarchy IS in fact the best political system

[navree]

ik you haven't been watching season 2 but i think they gave tb some actually intresting conflicts! baela having a messy relationship with her dad, rhaena being sent of to care for kids at 17-19? and rhaenyra being constantly undeminded by her council (not couting the strong boys i think the writers forget they exist)

Baela absolutely should have a messy relationship with her dad, given the behavior we've seen from Daemon as a father specifically (ignoring Rhaena for not having a dragon, sending Baela to live on Driftmark for ten years so he can prioritize his full-blooded Targaryen children, completely disregarding both of his daughters after the death of their mother and being utterly unsupportive and rushing to marry someone else who he had sex with the day of Laena's funeral). So that's something I hope they'd do more with, though I doubt it considering that Daemon is at Harrenhal now and is gonna spend the rest of the season being tortured by Alys, hell yeah. I'm leery on Rhaena's arc because, as I've mentioned before, it seems like they're gearing up to just give her Nettles's storyline, which is such an atrocious writing decision that it beggars belief, but there is something interesting in her feeling underappreciated.

And one thing I've found interesting, if they're doing it intentionally, is something I've seen other people talk about, which is a certain selfish disregard Rhaenyra has when it comes to her stepdaughters. She doesn't want Jace patrolling on Vermax because of what happened to Luke and wanting to protect him, but she has no problem having Baela patrol on Moondancer, and there is Something to the fact that she orders this after she learns that Daemon has done something that's significantly weakened her position and had a big fight with him about it. She can't entirely punish him, so she's taking it out on his daughter instead. Rhaenyra wants her sons to be safe, so she sends them to safety and then kinda tacks on Rhaena at the end to essentially just play nursemaid, separated from her remaining family (and the seat she or her sister should be entitled to inherit but can't because Rhaenyra propped up obvious non-Velaryon bastards as the rightful inheritors and essentially stole it from them) and literally told to mother these three very young kids. That's kind of a shitty thing to do, and speaks further to a disregard Rhaenyra has for Rhaena and Baela. It might not be intentional on her part, but it's there, and I think it's an interesting tract for both her character and for their's as well.

Rhaenyra being undermined by her council and consistently questioned is part of a larger trend we've seen in her writing since season 1, so I'm not surprised it's still there. Even after she was made heir, she still wasn't taken seriously as a political player, as seen when she tries to make a suggestion during council in 1x02 but almost everyone ignores her and Viserys still wants her to be his fucking cupbearer as if she's not going to be the sovereign of the Seven Kingdoms after him and might need to learn how to participate in the political process. And with the show's insistence on attempting to portray the insidiousness of the patriarchy and misogyny within political systems, especially as it surrounds female leaders, it makes sense to carry that on in Rhaenyra's queenship. She's the queen, yeah, but she's still a woman, so lesser qualified men of lower rank still think they can talk over her and be the ultimate authority. It's what we see with Daemon in 1x10, he ignores Rhaenyra during her miscarriage to plot a war council as if he's the deciding voice here, and when Rhaenyra defies his wishes, he puts his hands on her, because she's his wife and he doesn't think she should be able to do that, ignoring that she's the monarch and is not only allowed to disagree with a subject, but by the rules of her world could literally have him killed for physically attacking her. Do I think it's a message the show is writing particularly well? No, not really, but that's because this show just has a lot of writing failures that are becoming glaringly obvious as it goes on, but it is consistent theming from them.

Meanwhile Jace I think is just there to look pretty, and honestly can someone tell me if Corlys has a plotline at all? Is he doing anything?

[aorish]

favorite celestial body?

Earth

Uh, as a physicist I've always thought Ganymede was the most interesting Solar System Object due to the magnetic field. It's also full of water and it's very pretty, which is a great coincidence because Simon Marius can't have possibly known that when he named it after Zeus' immortal femboy cupbearer.

[dragonsfromthemoon]

Hi Ashter! I was watching this interview with GRRM (by the way he looks to be a very sweet and fun guy to talk to) where he was talking about his new book (Rise of the Dragon) which has lots of gorgeous illustrations. I saw the illustration of the Iron Throne. Now in George’s words, it is not beautiful, but it looks a LOT cooler than the one on the show. Apparently the King is supposed to be like 10 to 15 feet above everyone else. Now this got me thinking… even if Dany does become Queen like I want her to be in the books… I don’t think she’ll want to sit on the Iron Throne. She wants to be equal with her people. Which is why she uses a simple bench at the bottom of the stairs (George even corrected this illustrator and told them that Dany wants to be equal to her people so she wouldn’t sit on top). So if Dany does become Queen… I don’t think she would want to sit on the Iron Throne. It’s not her style to sit high above her subjects. Though I wonder if maybe it’ll be different. If she does become Queen. I’m still totally sure she will survive.

Well, first I would like to say I do see the merit on Dany burning the Iron Throne or discarding it through some other mean, as a symbolic act. As you said, to stay closer to her subjects.

But here I will play the devil's advocate and argue why it could be in Dany's interest (or at least GRRM's, in a doylist point of analysis) to keep the Iron Throne just as it is.

1. The throne is much a symbol of the kingdom as it is of the monarch's power. Thus, before Dany took Meereen, the throne there had represented the system of slavery — it was a symbol of it.

Her audience chamber was on the level below, an echoing high-ceilinged room with walls of purple marble. It was a chilly place for all its grandeur. There had been a throne there, a fantastic thing of carved and gilded wood in the shape of a savage harpy. She had taken one long look and commanded it be broken up for firewood. "I will not sit in the harpy's lap," she told them. Instead she sat upon a simple ebony bench. It served, though she had heard the Meereenese muttering that it did not befit a queen. [Daenerys VI, ASOS]

So, you see, Dany's reasoning for destroying the harpy's throne is that she does not want to sit upon a symbol of the very thing she is combating: the system of slavery. Her ebony bench, thus, represents a new order for Meereen, one with more equality, freedom and justice.

2. The Iron Throne is another matter, though. It was created to fit the context of Westeros — a united one after the Conquest. The Iron Throne is union, the king's justice and the king's peace (granted, not every king lived up to this legacy, but the point still remains). The Iron Throne is a reminder of the king's duty to the people.

“The first law of the land shall be the King’s Peace,” King Aegon decreed, “and any lord who goes to war without my leave shall be considered a rebel and an enemy of the Iron Throne.” [Fire and Blood]

The reconciliation of the Seven Kingdoms to Targaryen rule was the keystone of Aegon I’s policies as king. To this end, he made great efforts to include men (and even a few women) from every part of the realm in his court and councils. His former foes were encouraged to send their children (chiefly younger sons and daughters, as most great lords desired to keep their heirs close to home) to court, where the boys served as pages, cupbearers, and squires, the girls as handmaidens and companions to Aegon’s queens. In King’s Landing, they witnessed the king’s justice at first hand, and were urged to think of themselves as leal subjects of one great realm, not as westermen or stormlanders or northmen. [Fire and Blood]

A king should never sit easy, Aegon the Conqueror had said, when he commanded his armorers to forge a great seat from the swords laid down by his enemies. Damn Aegon for his arrogance, Ned thought sullenly, and damn Robert and his hunting as well. [Eddard XI, AGOT]

Daenerys is the successor of Aegon the Conqueror's legacy and the narrative itself parallels them. So I would not be surprised if she decided to keep the Iron Throne, as dangerous and imposing as it is, for the sake of what her antecessor built and the meaning behind it.

All in all, what happens to the Iron Throne is still on GRRM's hands. One can only speculate hahahaha.

[writingamongther0ses]

"HADES!"

The shriek rang off the walls of the Underworld. It made the souls around the Styx dissolved into a frenzy and Charon was forced to whack souls back to figure out who had a coin. Cereberus whined, faceplanting and trying to cover all six ears. There was a crash as a vase fell.

Hades looked up from his breakfast, watching as a cloud drifted over the skylight where the fake stars shone down. "Sounds like Aphrodite," he noted. "Wonder why she's here." The goddess of love and beauty would never dare step foot in his realm. It was too dark and dank, apparently.

Persephone, who had arrived yesterday, looked up from her plate. "I told you why," she said, brows furrowing together. "Remember?"

Hades' eyes went wide and he almost spat out his water. Some still dribbled out and he grabbed a napkin to dab at his mouth. "I thought you were joking!"

Before his wife could say a word, the doors slammed open.

Aphrodite stood in the doorway. Usually, she was immaculate, with not a hair out of place (unless you liked messy hair). However, her hair had been left loose and wild and her makeup was running down her face. She stood, huffing and puffing, glaring right at him.

"You." She stormed forward, red magic beginning to sizzle around her hands. "What the fuck did you do?!"

That...was a tricky question.

Look, all Hades ever wanted was things to be nice and orderly. He had hated being underground for about ten minutes before realizing he could do whatever he wanted. If he had gotten his birthright, he was pretty sure someone would've called rebellion. In the Underworld, nobody cared. Persephone had shaken things up, but she had added her own touch to the systems of the Underworld.

The main source of chaos was the lovers.

It felt like, at least once a month, Hades had to deal with someone's lover dying and that someone trekking all the way in to yell at him about it. It made the whole day out of whack. Persephone was the mean one, not him, so whenever she was upstairs, he found himself wasting hours arguing with the person who had stormed in.

So, maybe, the next few times he was upstairs, acting as Persephone's consort whenever she and Demeter had something, he had given just a little advice whenever he saw someone pining. Just a smidge. Persephone hadn't even blinked when he asked her, once or twice, for a bouquet to help a few nervous girls confess to each other.

The first time, they had been scared. Hades probably should've taken the relaxed attitude the last few times as a warning.

"...what did I do, exactly?"

Aphrodite let out another shriek that had Persephone standing up, vines curling around her hands. "I'M NO LONGER IN CHARGE OF LOVE!"

"Oh, that's great!"

Aphrodite turned that furious gaze to Persephone and now Hades rose. He was fine with Aphrodite attacking him. His wife, on the other hand? That could not stand.

"How dare you?!" she snarled. "We bonded over raising Adonis! I thought we were friends!"

Persephone's gaze went dark and Hades's fear of Aphrodite switched. He gestured to the nervous cupbearer and the skeleton wasted no time. "We were." Slowly, vines began to rise up, covering the walls. The red magic around Aphrodite's hands faded. "We were friends until you decided," Persephone took a step forward and the vines reached the ceiling. "You make me fall in love with my son," The room began to darken. Aphrodite took a few steps back as Persephone stepped forward. "And kill him."

Ah, yes, that. Hades had his own complaints against Aphrodite, but he knew Adonis was a sore spot.

Aphrodite whined, her voice no longer shaking with rage. "He was such a handsome man..." She tried to straighten up. "You loved him too, like that, I just-"

"You got so ashamed that you wanted to fuck him, you had to try and drag me down." Persephone snarled. "You don't love anyone. You don't understand love. If you did, I bet Hephaestus wouldn't have left you. I bet that lovers would stop dying."

The goddess of sex trembled.

Persephone took a deep breath. The light slowly filtered back as the vines pulled away from the skylight. "Get out. Be happy you have less work."

Aphrodite made a faint whiny noise, glanced at Hades as if asking for help, and then groaned. She snapped her fingers and with a pop, she was gone.

Persephone stood, glaring at the spot for a minute longer. She finally straightened with a little huff, turning to him.

"We're making you a new temple."

"What."

Tired of love stricken mortals making up a sizable chunk of the underworld’s traffic, Hades decides to help mortals with their love problems before Aphrodite can answer them. It turns out that mortals are a lot more satisfied with Hades’ help than with Aphrodite’s.

[thebookofnehemiah]

"The Ginnethon." From the Book of Nehemiah, "the Exploration of the Mysteries of the Lions that Lay," 10: 1-8.

Now the members of the Court of the Assembly officially agree to the Edict borne by the Nsh for the reformation of the Kingdom of Israel. As with all Torahs, we cannot just read the weird werds and hope for the best, we must understand their specific directions.

The Sealing begins with Nehemiah, whose name means "cupbearer of the king" AKA a prince or Nsh in Hebrew, a type of governor. A seal is an agreement between men that what is done is done. This means a sealed system of government with properly qualified governors should no longer experience any troubles whatsoever. To agree to a Seal and do whatevers is something only a cadaver, a rotten, rotten person or culture would dare to do:

10 [a]Those who sealed it were:

Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hakaliah.

Zedekiah, 2 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,

3 Pashhur, Amariah, Malkijah,

4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluk,

5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,

6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,

7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,

8 Maaziah, Bilgai and Shemaiah.

These were the priests.

First we have to define these above terms and discover the Kabbalah they are hiding. Kabbalah means "lessons to be rehearsed."

Nehemiah= to be sorry and comfort with compassion

Hakaliah= to drink wine and discern

Zedekiah= The verb צדק (sadeq) means to be just or righteous; to be efficient with social energy. Adjective צדיק (saddiq) means just or righteous, noun צדק (sedeq) means justice or rightness, noun צדקה (sadaqa) means righteousness.

Seraiah= the sight

Azariah=the citizen

Jeremiah=

The verb רמה (rama) essentially means to loosen, but is used only three times literally (twice for shooting arrows and once for hurling riders into the sea). Mostly our verb is used in the sense of playing loose with the truth, i.e. to compromise the solidness of trustworthiness and be swampy.

Hence our verb is mostly translated with to beguile, deceive or mislead. Nouns רמיה (remiya), מרמה (mirma), תרמה (torma) and תרמית (tarmit) describe various degrees and nuances of treachery, deceit and looseness in the trustworthiness department.

Pashhur= The root חרר (harar) describes a society's central and enclosed source of heat. It thus may express a geographical depression, but more so a being hot and ultimately a being a ruler (whether by might, political clout or wisdom).

Amariah= The ubiquitous verb אמר ('amar) means to talk or say and may even mean to promise or command. Nouns אמר ('omer) and מאמר (ma'amar) mean speech, word, promise or command. Nouns אמרה ('imra) and אמרה ('emra) mean utterance or speech. The metaphorical noun אמיר ('amir) refers to the leafy and fruit bearing crown of a tree.

Malkijah=

The noun מלך (melek) means king, and a king is not merely a glorified tribal chief but the alpha of a complex, stratified society, implying a court and a complex government.

The Bible insists that a society must be governed by a triad of anointed sovereigns, namely prophets, priests and the king. A good king causes his people to be prosperous and peaceful whereas a bad one causes poverty and strife. The difference between the two is dictated by how close to the Law of Nature (a.k.a. the Word of God) the king operates. A kingdom that is wholly in tune with the Law consists of only sovereign individuals and is thus without a physical king.

Hattush= the marking ink

Shebaniah= that the construction

Malluk=from Luke, the one who reigns

Harim= the mountains

Meremoth= her mane

Obadiah=the employee

Daniel= who judges for God

Ginnethon= the gardener

Baruch=blessed

Meshullam=paid

Abijah= obesity

Mijamin= the right handed one

Maaziah= A bird of prey

Bilgai= in my moment

Shemaiah= I was happy

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 1-5: The Number is 8791, ח‎ז‎טא‎ ‎, hazta, "the compartment."

v. 6-8: The Number is 4956, דטהו‎ ‎, data dathu, "his opinion."

The Seal of the Governor states:

"Govern with compassion and discernment in the sight of the citizen. Do not play loose with the truth. Be hot, so very hot with political clout and wisdom, talk, say, and command like a king. The marking ink of the Constitution comes from the lion's mane of the Mountain, the employee of God, an Ace Gardener who is just and happy in every way."

[noones-moon]

II. The Aquarian Courtier

UPRIGHT: grace, egality, purity of intentions, changing the system

REVERSED: betrayal, service to oppressors, extravagance

On the Courtier card is a troll floating underwater surrounded by jellyfish. He is dressed in a gown, representing his nobility status. The way the skirt floats symbolizes his grace and elegance as a courtier. He seems carefree but the black underskirt denotes betrayal. The white bubbles floating symbolize purity of intentions. The hydrangea translates to 'water jar' such as the vessel Ganymede uses as the cupbearer as the gods, serving the elite.

The Aquarian Courtier by @japhers

[c-is-for-coin]

Iotabearer

Gender related to being a cupbearer for iotas / a iota cupbearer. They are connected to iotas, iota aesthetics, cupbearer aesthetics, divine aesthetics, and royal aesthetics. It may also be related to drink-related genders, but doesn't have to be

Tagging @radiomogai and @obscurian

[backjustforberena]

Hi!! Sorry, this took me a while to get to. I'm going to sort of break down your answer into quotes, just for clarity for my own sake, and I hope that's okay. Sorry if I repeat anything.

I think there are some instances where you've confused problems with the narrative with problems with character actions. So, for example, you say that "it should have been changed, and Rhaenyra should have been given more of a voice and a presence in the council the moment that Viserys named her heir." - that's a problem in the world rather than made by the showrunners, if that makes sense? It's a flaw on a character's part not the writer or the world-building, even if it is inaccurate historically. It can be, it has the breadth, being fantastical and fictional. To "change" that would have been to change the story they are telling and events. So we can't dig at that, especially if it does what they want to accomplish - make Rhaenyra's swearing-in feel inconsequential in the face of a potential son, make her being made heir something for her to feel insecure about and make it be propelled by grief and pain on Viserys's part both for his wife and for his brother's actions. Rhaenyra's position isn't safe. Illustrating that via keeping her as a cupbearer with no higher duties is a really simple way for the audience to grasp that. And it's something for Rhaenys to grasp on to, to further hammer that point home.

"Rhaenyra definitely came off as entitled and high handed in that conversation- but so did Rhaenys, and for me, she did from the moment she opened her mouth to speak to Rhaenyra."

Awesome. I absolutely think they are both meant to. Genuinely, I think we're meant to see both sides. I think we're meant to see both vulnerability in both women and then also this inherent friction and defensive. As you say, it's clear in both women. If calling her out on the cupbearer position is a "weak" shot then, to be honest, so is calling Rhaenys "The Queen Who Never Was". Neither of those insults are built on an in-depth knowledge of their opponent. Rhaenyra is using a decade-old insult that Rhaenys has heard time and time again in the hopes it retains potency, in order to back up her claim that she is superior to Rhaenys. Rhaenys is giving a parting shot based on no personal history or personality traits because she doesn't really know Rhaenyra either, except as a little girl. Or because she is only acting in self-defence to make sure Rhaenyra knows to shut up and listen, as she goes straight for the advice afterwards rather than escalation. It's up to you how you interpret that.

They are both trying to retain dignity and power in a situation where to accede to the other person is a weakness. They both are right, they both are wrong. But for one person to be right, the other must be disenfranchised. If Rhaenyra is right then the disgrace of Rhaenys's position is personal and she is lesser. If Rhaenys is right then Rhaenyra's position and power are fallible and flawed.

"However I don’t really think selecting a kingsguard was a menial thing."

I do think you're right on the Kingsguard overall, however it's used as a menial thing and only becomes more than that because Rhaenyra uses it to her advantage. That's not the intention by the men around her. We know that despite it being an honour, it is done to get her out of the way and stop interrupting the (arguably) more important subject of the Stepstones, especially when the Kingsguard is being chosen in a time of peace where the role seems more ceremonial than actually combative. But Rhaenyra makes her own choice and one that goes against what Otto (representative of the system) would have done. She shows agency. But that wasn't the intention when she was sent to do that task.

Both things are true - it can be a menial, subduing task intended to get her out of the way, but it can, as you say, also be a moment for Rhaenyra's character to show through. I don't think any of the men are going to sit up and take notice on the fact that she chose Criston though. It's not a point in her political corner, not really.

Going back to the Episode 02 conversation. I am trying to steer away from sanitising Rhaenys here - I try generally not to do that, one of my longstanding interpretations is that, despite her discomfort at proposing Laena to Viserys, she is just as much culpable as her husband. She's just as active, just as much participating. So, I personally don't think it's only "Corlys was trying to sell off their daughter to the king" as you put it. It's both of them. Rhaenys isn't silent. The only thing different is that she's honest about it to Rhaenyra. We don't have a chance for Corlys to do the same and we don't have a scene of them discussing it as a couple.

It's easy to be on Rhaenyra's side because we don't have Rhaenys's at all. Saying that, what Rhaenys does is bitter, condescending and defensive. But, likewise, Rhaenyra is also defensive, high-handed and sanctimonious. If Rhaenys had one moment of genuine regard for Rhaenyra, then Rhaenyra had none for Rhaenys. Both are dealing with vulnerabilities and the way that comes out is to cut whomever you can and whomever is in front of you.

Rhaenyra is a 15 year old girl who has recently lost her mother. But she's now also in the game. She's a political player, and was as soon as Viserys named her heir. We don't know how the conversation might have gone had either of these women shown compassion for the other. But Rhaenyra gives as good as she gets. She doesn't want to be seen as the tragic girl, she wants to be seen as Heir. Fine. Rhaenys treats her like that. And to do so is to treat her bluntly. To do so is to tell her a "harsh truth".

"But Rhaenys is the one who started hostility- the way she asks ‘does it bother you?’ and then her tone when she cuts Rhaenyra’s ‘lesson in politics’ off when Rhaenyra attempts to fall back on the politically correct answer, tries not to BE bothered or show weakness. That’s when Rhaenyra uses ‘TQWNW’ - because she’s feeling exposed and judged."

Rhaenys's line is actually: "It bothers you, does it not?" rather than "Does it bother you?", though I suppose that's by the by other than to say that Rhaenys knows it bothers Rhaenyra. But I'd argue that it's Rhaenyra who sets the true tone of the conversation by patronising Rhaenys. She evades the question and attempts to do it in a really crude way by spouting a "politically correct answer" full of knowledge Rhaenys has known since before Rhaenyra was born. Hostility is met with hostility.

And then Rhaenyra fires the first shot about asking: "Laena is your daughter, Princess. Does it bother you?" From then on, I'd argue, Rhaenyra has crossed a bit of a line. Rhaenyra has invited hostilities - let me be clear, she does not deserve those hostilities and I don't negate her weaknesses and her inner conflicts and what she's going through - but she can only be one thing. A bereaved 15 year-old girl or the Heir to the Iron Throne.

She wants to be treated like a political player? Sure. But that comes with consequences. Rhaenys has no reason to treat her with kid gloves. Especially if Rhaenyra actively doesn't want to be treated with kid gloves.

You go for her daughter? She'll call you an upstart. You think you're better? She'll insult you. You insult her? She'll do the same back. It's a really tit-for-tat, even if Rhaenyra is the weaker opponent. She's supposed to be the weaker. We're supposed to empathise.

"But she could have used this moment to ACTUALLY help Rhaenyra. She could have used this moment to try and advise or guide Rhaenyra, to try and see if that stops history from repeating itself."

Except, except... Rhaenys thinks this is helping. Rhaenys doesn't think she can help. Rhaenys has no obligation to help. And it would be against Rhaenys's interests to help.

Rhaenys believes that the patriarchy cannot be undone. That is what she learnt from the Great Council. No matter how good you are, how strong your claim, how rich, how noble, how spotless... they will take it from you. And they will do so simply because you are a woman. Rhaenys doesn't think Rhaenyra will be Queen, so why kick up a fuss that will lead nowhere? Why waste her own political capital (if she had any against the men of the realm, on her own)? Her advice is simply: don't get comfortable. To create a "new order" you need to actually be Queen first. And that's not something she can see happening.

It's also not something she can see that she can help with. Half her life is spent on Driftmark, she has her own obligations, her own children, her own house - which is often in conflict with Rhaenyra's own. And, more than that, if she had any worthy advice on how to get the Crown then she would have used it for herself. If she had some secret formula on how to make a woman worthy then she would have been that exception. Now, what is she? A roleless royal woman. She has no function.

What she can only offer... is what she wished she'd known. If Rhaenyra doesn't think she's going to get to be Queen, if she doesn't want it, if she doesn't stay unaware then the hurt won't be what Rhaenys herself has felt. She won't be blindsided. She won't have been raised for one thing to only be cast to a different existence. In Rhaenys's mind, there is no fighting it. It's sad but it's her perspective.

There's also the fact that her own ambitions rely on Rhaenyra not becoming Queen. She's in the middle of proposing her daughter as wife to the King on the assumption that her grandson will become King. Why would she want to elevate Rhaenyra? That would only serve to undermine every reason she has to propose Laena as a bride. It would make the move pointless. Like it or not, it's in her interest for Rhaenyra to be cast aside when this son is born, if it is her grandson.

"And she literally never changes position until she sees that Rhaenyra is reluctant to begin a war to defend herself or her children, even though she’s the usurped party. They gave Rhaeny’s attitude to Daemon- when he was the one who preached caution, in the book."

I'll keep this short because it's part of a bigger conversation - the reason this happens is not because of Rhaenys's personality change, but because of the overall changes to plot. It's an impossibility for that Black Council scene in the book to be translated into the show as it was. Rhaenys cannot say her canon line. So, they give it to Daemon. But overall, Rhaenys actually never says Rhaenyra shouldn't or won't be Queen after EPisode 02. If you don't think the girl is going to be Queen, you're not going to talk about her succession being challenged and betrothing your son to her, are you?

"Hell, even the situation with Rhaenyra and Laenor’s Velaryon boys. She KNOWS Laenor is gay. She warns Corlys about it. So she knows *damn well* why Rhaenyra and Laenor’s boys look the way they do. Yet Laenor quite blatantly, in every scene he has with them, loves those children, and claims them- and despite that Rhaenys is dismissive of Rhaenyra and those boys up until ep.10- and by then, given what happens to Luke, it’s rather too little too late."

Again, I draw a line between political and personal for Rhaenys. And I would dispute a couple of your statements. I don't think she warns Corlys about Laenor being gay. She reminds him, but the crux of her hesitance (and it is only that as the betrothal is brokered) is the conflict:

RHAENYS: We are placing our son in danger. CORLYS: The lords of the realm bent the knee to Rhaenyra and swore obeisance to her. RHAENYS: That was before there was a true-born prince named Aegon Targaryen. Rhaenyra’s succession will be challenged. Knives will come out for her, her husband, and for their heirs.

It's not about Laenor's sexuality. It's about Rhaenyra's position as heir. And she includes their heirs. Laenor might be gay but Rhaenys doesn't think he's not going to have trueborn children. We don't know much more about her relationship once the boys are born as she's not present or mentioned in that strand of Episode 06 - but, like everyone else, she stays quiet for ten years. The implication is she's never even discussed it with Corlys, given his reaction.

She only brings up the succession after her daughter has died. After her son is miserable. After Vaemond has engaged and weaponised the rumours. After seeing how ill Viserys is. After seeing the truth. After seeing the political danger it places on Driftmark and her family and Rhaenyra's succession.

It's easy to villanise Rhaenys when she's not choosing the option that would be the most comfortable or most kind to Rhaenyra, and when we don't have her specific POV for doing so. Especially if that aligns her with Alicent - who is the only other to be direct about the boys' parentage... and Vaemond, I guess.

But she's not acting out of hate for the boys. She never calls them anything but Laenor's sons. Ever.

Rhaenys acts for herself. It just so happens that what is best for herself has often been passivity, distance or being on a side other than Rhaenyra's, for her own survival. That's my interpretation in any case.

"They destroyed every single relationship Rhaenyra had with other women all for Alicent, and it’s depressing as fuck lmao"

Not disagreeing. But it's not restricted to Rhaenyra. ALL the women are isolated. No woman has a deep connection to any other woman other than the ones they are directly related to.

But, what's interesting, actually is that Rhaenys and Rhaenyra never interact in the book until war is declared. Not even tangentially. Rhaenys has no presence during Viserys's reign other than the odd mention alongside her husband. No event where they were both together - we don't even know where Rhaenys was when Laena died, in the book.

This relationship that we have in the show... there's no actual evidence to discredit it. We don't know how the women felt about each other - we don't even know how Rhaenys felt about the boys. We have no evidence of her personal feelings at all.

Rhaenyra telling Rhaenys that Jace and Baelas sons would sit the throne wasn't her being against women inheriting... it was her trying to appeal to Rhaenys, who has been condescending and bitter ever since Rhaenyra was named heir.

Rhaenys did tell Rhaenyra the cold truth no one else would, in ep 2. But she *enjoyed doing it.* she looked pleased, that Rhaenyra would suffer the same fate of being set aside, that Rhaenyra would know her pain. Rhaenyra was also *correct* when she clapped back. Their situations were similar and different.

Rhaenys was never named her fathers heir- the lords of the realm never knelt and swore to her. And her dig about the cupbearer position makes.. no sense.

Historically, a cupbearer is a position of honor and favor. By acting as cupbearer, Rhaenyra is witnessing, experiencing, and learning how the realm is governed. Yes, Otto undermines her and Viserys allows it, but that doesn't change that being a cupbearer is a position of honor.

And when Rhaenyra is crowned, she has *Rhaena* as her cupbearer. And further than that, she does for Rhaena and Baela what was never done for her. She invites them TO the table where decisions are made.

That line was done bc she knew Rhaenys still didn't support the idea of Rhaenyra as queen, and she had no guarantee that would change. So she tries to appeal to Rhaenys in the only way left to her at the moment, with the Greens looming over her. And in doing so she sets up Baela to be queen after her- and for Rhaena to be Lady of the Tides, as Rhaenys is now.

Gods I miss book Rhaenys. Eve Best was robbed.

[a-secret-bolton-vampire]

Daenerys Stormborn, Part 2: Wake the Dragon

Oh hey, I have part 2 already! Guess my brain is really focused on Dany now. In part 1, I talked about Dany's arcs from AGOT to ASOS, exploring the narrative and thematic purpose of her journey. However, the most important part of her journey occurs in ADWD, and sets the stage for some incredibly exciting developments to come in TWOW. For part 2, I'll be talking about the gradual transformation of Daenerys into a slightly different, darker character for the future.

Breaker of Chains & Mhysa

Slavery has been an important background element throughout Dany's time in Essos, even in AGOT, but it becomes front and centre in ASOS. She accepted the Dothraki, a society that uses slaves for many things, and wasn't too perturbed at the use of slaves in Qarth. However, it is in Astapor where she finally realizes just how bad the institution is, as she tells Xaro:

"Whence came this madness? Should I count myself fortunate that you did not free my own slaves when you were my guest in Qarth?" I was a beggar queen and you were Xaro of the Thirteen, Dany thought, and all you wanted were my dragons. "Your slaves seemed well treated and content. It was not till Astapor that my eyes were opened."

As mentioned last time, ASOS is when she begins to take control of her destiny, and she does so by beginning a revolution to free the slaves of Slaver's Bay. She believe she has a greater destiny lying ahead of her, that there is a reason for her dragons, the red comet. She also has great empathy for people and sees this disturbing injustice being played out with nobody to stop it. But she has the power to do so, and thus she begins by going fire and blood at Astapor, killing the Good Masters and freeing all the slaves. Afterwards, she leaves the city with a ruling council of a priest, a scholar, and a healer and moves to Yunkai.

She does a different approach with Yunkai, negotiating with the Wise Masters to surrender their slaves and to leave them in peace. And then when she arrives at Meereen, she decides to stay and rule as its queen. This is where things begin to get difficult for Daenerys. The ruling council of Astapor is overthrown by a butcher named Cleon, who said the council was conspiring to bring back slavery, who declares himself King of Astapor, enslaves the children of the former Good Masters to make new Unsullied, and tries to ally with Daenerys against Yunkai, who has resumed slavery.

Daenerys is not interested in any war with Yunkai. The reason she stays in Meereen is exactly because she learned what happened when she left Astapor. The fire and blood approach didn't work. You can't just dismantle such a deeply engrained system so easily. So instead she opts to rule, and protect the people she can. While a lot of readers view Dany's actions in Meereen as pointless, the whims of a naive girl, and poor leadership, I actually think it's the opposite.

For starters, Dany realized that she can't simply burn the slavers to end slavery, but she needs to stay and instill changes. While King Cleon repeatedly begs for Daenerys to join the war against Yunkai, she refuses, and warns Cleon to not do such a thing. She turns out to be horribly right, as Cleon is killed, Astapor is sieged, before being slaughtered, burned, and sacked, to be reinstated as a slave city once more. Likewise, the Yunkish siege Meereen, first by creating a blockade in the bay with ships, and then by having armies amassed outside the city walls.

In addition, refugees from Astapor begin to pile up outside the city, and a deadly plague called the pale mare (for the horse from Astapor that arrives at Meereen) begins to sweep the starving Astapori freedmen, who begin to resort to cannibalism to survive. Dany blames herself for leaving Astapor a mess, but does not wish to have the same thing happen in Meereen. She wants to protect the people she's freed, not just from the Yunkish, but herself as well.

When a sheepherder brings the burned bones of his daughter, Hazzea, who was killed by her dragons, Dany has Rhaegal and Viserion chained in the dungeons below the Great Pyramid to prevent them from causing any more harm. However, Drogon is still loose, unable to be found. In addition, when the sons of the harpy, a terrorist group opposed to the emancipation of Meereen, begin massacring freedmen, Dany decides to raise a tax on the Great Masters and have all families of suspect loyalty send a child to serve as a hostage and cupbearers. Yet, as the killings continue, she has grown close to the children and decides not to have them killed.

Now, some of you may notice that I am taking a lot from the Meereenese Blot essays written by Adam Feldman. That's not only because they are really well written essays, but ones that GRRM himself has approved of.

"I read those when someone pointed them out to me, and I was really pleased with them, because at least one guy got it. He got it completely, he knew exactly what I was trying to do there, and evidently I did it well enough for people who were paying attention."

So I am retreading some of the ground Feldman has laid, but it's important to do so if I am to build up to what I think is going to happen in the future of Dany's story.

As Feldman notes, Dany's own actions (or in the case of the cupbearers, inaction) actually made a peace possible, because the Yunkish saw that she was someone who is capable of mercy and not a (in their eye) violent mass murderer. Knowing what happened with Astapor, and seeing what happens when her dragons are unleashed with Hazzea, Dany decides to make peace with the Yunkish and marry Hizdahr.

Under the peace, Meereen itself would remain a free city, but the Yunkish would continue to sell slaves. They even sell them in markets outside the walls of Meereen, which displeases Daenerys extremely. In addition, slaveowners could bring their slaves into Meereen without fear of them being freed, and the Yunkish promised to respect the rights of the freedmen in Meereen. Yet, despite the peace and the progress made, she feels as though this is a defeat.

This is peace, she told herself. This is what I wanted, what I worked for, this is why I married Hizdahr. So why does it taste so much like defeat?

The thing is, Daenerys has had to sacrifice so much of herself and her morals to get to this point. Yes there is peace, even if it is tentative, Meereen would not be sacked by the Yunkish, but slavery is still going on, and she thinks that she has let herself and other people down by agreeing to peace and allowing the Yunkish to continue slavery. She has agreed to peace to people she loathes and thinks are despicable, she has married a man she does not love and does not love her, she has chained her dragons in the pit below, she has allowed the fighting pits to reopen. This comes to ahead at Daznak's Pit when she is at the height of her discomfort.

The boar buried his snout in Barsena's belly and began rooting out her entrails. The smell was more than the queen could stand. The heat, the flies, the shouts from the crowd … I cannot breathe. She lifted her veil and let it flutter away. She took her tokar off as well. The pearls rattled softly against one another as she unwound the silk.

And then Drogon arrives, and in the chaos of him attacking the boar and being attacked by the soldiers in the pit, Dany tries to calm him, but he spits fire at her, and she tries to tame him by whipping him into submission. Here, Dany is quite literally fighting herself. She herself in this moment represents the Queen of Meereen, someone who desires for peace. Meanwhile, Drogon represents the dragon inside her, who wants to unleash blood and fire on her enemies. In the end, Dany climbs onto Drogon and they fly away together, which foreshadows and symbolizes Dany's later decision to choose being the dragon.

Despite her frustrations in Meereen, the peace was a good first step. Not to say that it solved every issue, it didn't, but that doesn't need to be the end of it. Daenerys could forge new peaces, new agreements, and if she stayed in Meereen, she could implement great changes throughout Slaver's Bay. But what is done is done, and cannot be undone. The peace that was forged is now gone. Next comes war.

The House with the Red Door

Before we move on to Dany's final chapter and what that means for the future, we must take a look at a very important part of her backstory which is one of the main elements of her own story. Sure, destiny, greatness, prophecy, power, and identity are themes with Daenerys, but at the center of it all is the desire for home. Dany was born on Dragonstone, but was whisked away to Braavos, and there she lived in the house with the red door, with Viserys, Ser Willem Darry, and their servants.

To Dany, the house with the red door was the only place in her life she called home, and she has very fond memories of it, of Willem, or the lemon tree. But after Willem died, they were kicked out and forced to become beggars on the streets, selling off their possessions and travelling the Free Cities. The red door was closed and gone forever after, but the dream of having a home hasn't.

Daenerys has a desire for home, for love, for family. Throughout her childhood, Viserys would tell Dany all about Westeros, how they need to take back the Iron Throne, that the Seven Kingdoms were the most beautiful lands in the world. And sure enough, soon, Westeros represents the idea for home and belonging to Dany.

"I pray for home too," she told him, believing it. Ser Jorah laughed. "Look around you then, Khaleesi." But it was not the plains Dany saw then. It was King's Landing and the great Red Keep that Aegon the Conqueror had built. It was Dragonstone where she had been born. In her mind's eye they burned with a thousand lights, a fire blazing in every window. In her mind's eye, all the doors were red.

Although she takes on the mantle as the new head of House Targaryen and carries on Viserys's dream of taking back the Iron Throne out of a sense of duty, she also does so for desire to belong in a place she can call home. It's a nostalgic feeling she gets of the old days, that she wants to relive again.

But then other ambitions get in her way. She frees the slaves of Slaver's Bay, and decides to stay in Meereen to try to ensure that her revolution succeeds. Thus, her quest for home is put on hold. Throughout ADWD, she gives up parts of herself, to try to become one with the Meereenese; marrying Hizdahr, reopening the fighting pits, chaining her dragons, dressing in the Ghiscari fashion, and making peace. But in the Dothraki sea, hundreds of miles outside Meereen, she finds that she wasn't being her true self, that she can never be the Queen of Meereen, or become a true Meereenese.

I must keep walking. Water flows downhill. The stream will take me to the river, and the river will take me home. Except it wouldn't, not truly. Meereen was not her home, and never would be. It was a city of strange men with strange gods and stranger hair, of slavers wrapped in fringed tokars, where grace was earned through whoring, butchery was art, and dog was a delicacy. Meereen would always be the Harpy's city, and Daenerys could not be a harpy.

The series is all about the human heart in conflict with itself, and Daenerys in ADWD is one of the best examples of that. She was struggling with her two competing titles of Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons, but in the end she was not comfortable with being the Breaker of Chains. This final transformation she undergoes in the Dothraki sea really sets the tone for what she will do in the future, and how she will change as a person and character.

Mother of Dragons

Daenerys X is one of the more bizarre chapters in the series, since it follows only one character alone with her thoughts, but it works extremely well as a character study, and the development over the course of the chapter is one of my favourites in the whole series. Through all the hallucinations and visions and dreams Daenerys has during this chapter, it's important to remember that they all (apart from possibly Quaithe) are her, so the discussions she has are with her own internal thoughts directly.

The topic of Targaryen madness reoccurs throughout the series, but it's ADWD where it is brought up the most. Now, the topic of Targaryen madness will be another post i will do in the far future and won't discuss in depth today, but the matter is that Dany is aware of some of it, even if she hasn't fully accepted the truth of her father. She fears that she is succumbing to the madness at points.

"Your Grace?" Missandei stood in the door of the queen's bedchamber, a lantern in her hand. "Who are you talking to?" Dany glanced back toward the persimmon tree. There was no woman there. No hooded robe, no lacquer mask, no Quaithe. A shadow. A memory. No one. She was the blood of the dragon, but Ser Barristan had warned her that in that blood there was a taint. Could I be going mad? They had called her father mad, once.

Later, she implies this fear again to Barristan.

I lived in fear for fourteen years, my lord. I woke afraid each morning and went to sleep afraid each night … but my fears were burned away the day I came forth from the fire. Only one thing frightens me now." "And what is it that you fear, sweet queen?" "I am only a foolish young girl." Dany rose on her toes and kissed his cheek. "But not so foolish as to tell you that. My men shall look at these ships. Then you shall have my answer."

But in an early version of Daenerys III, the answer Daenerys gave was "myself". She fears what would happen if she "woke the dragon", as Viserys put it. She's afraid of succumbing to the madness that consumed her father and probably was consuming Viserys. She's afraid of what would happen if she unleashed her dragons, how many innocents they would kill. But in the Dothraki sea, she begins to question her decisions, starting when she woke up after finding blood between her thighs:

"I am the blood of the dragon," she told the grass, aloud. Once, the grass whispered back, until you chained your dragons in the dark. "Drogon killed a little girl. Her name was … her name …" Dany could not recall the child's name. That made her so sad that she would have cried if all her tears had not been burned away. "I will never have a little girl. I was the Mother of Dragons." Aye, the grass said, but you turned against your children.

The importance of this quote cannot go unnoticed. She thinks about Hazzea all the time throughout the book, feeling deeply guilty about what Drogon did to her. But here, at the end, she cannot remember her name. The in world explanation is that, of course, she is delirious from being in the wilderness eating berries and being sick, but thematically this is her slowly turning away from the people she freed. Next comes a dream with Viserys (long quote incoming):

She dreamt of her dead brother. Viserys looked just as he had the last time she'd seen him. His mouth was twisted in anguish, his hair was burnt, and his face was black and smoking where the molten gold had run down across his brow and cheeks and into his eyes. "You are dead," Dany said. Murdered. Though his lips never moved, somehow she could hear his voice, whispering in her ear. You never mourned me, sister. It is hard to die unmourned. "I loved you once." Once, he said, so bitterly it made her shudder. You were supposed to be my wife, to bear me children with silver hair and purple eyes, to keep the blood of the dragon pure. I took care of you. I taught you who you were. I fed you. I sold our mother's crown to keep you fed. "You hurt me. You frightened me." Only when you woke the dragon. I loved you. "You sold me. You betrayed me." No. You were the betrayer. You turned against me, against your own blood. They cheated me. Your horsey husband and his stinking savages. They were cheats and liars. They promised me a golden crown and gave me this. He touched the molten gold that was creeping down his face, and smoke rose from his finger. "You could have had your crown," Dany told him. "My sun-and-stars would have won it for you if only you had waited." I waited long enough. I waited my whole life. I was their king, their rightful king. They laughed at me. "You should have stayed in Pentos with Magister Illyrio. Khal Drogo had to present me to the dosh khaleen, but you did not have to ride with us. That was your choice. Your mistake." Do you want to wake the dragon, you stupid little whore? Drogo's khalasar was mine. I bought them from him, a hundred thousand screamers. I paid for them with your maidenhead. "You never understood. Dothraki do not buy and sell. They give gifts and receive them. If you had waited …" I did wait. For my crown, for my throne, for you. All those years, and all I ever got was a pot of molten gold. Why did they give the dragon's eggs to you? They should have been mine. If I'd had a dragon, I would have taught the world the meaning of our words. Viserys began to laugh, until his jaw fell away from his face, smoking, and blood and molten gold ran from his mouth.

The dream terrifies Daenerys, but once again, Viserys (really herself here) is telling her she is stalling in a place she doesn't belong, that she needs to go home, that she should embrace being a dragon. The climax of this comes right after she realizes Meereen would never be her home, where she argues with Jorah (again, herself):

Meereen would always be the Harpy's city, and Daenerys could not be a harpy. Never, said the grass, in the gruff tones of Jorah Mormont. You were warned, Your Grace. Let this city be, I said. Your war is in Westeros, I told you. The voice was no more than a whisper, yet somehow Dany felt that he was walking just behind her. My bear, she thought, my old sweet bear, who loved me and betrayed me. She had missed him so. She wanted to see his ugly face, to wrap her arms around him and press herself against his chest, but she knew that if she turned around Ser Jorah would be gone. "I am dreaming," she said. "A waking dream, a walking dream. I am alone and lost." Lost, because you lingered, in a place that you were never meant to be, murmured Ser Jorah, as softly as the wind. Alone, because you sent me from your side. "You betrayed me. You informed on me, for gold." For home. Home was all I ever wanted. "And me. You wanted me." Dany had seen it in his eyes. I did, the grass whispered, sadly. "You kissed me. I never said you could, but you did. You sold me to my enemies, but you meant it when you kissed me." I gave you good counsel. Save your spears and swords for the Seven Kingdoms, I told you. Leave Meereen to the Meereenese and go west, I said. You would not listen. "I had to take Meereen or see my children starve along the march." Dany could still see the trail of corpses she had left behind her crossing the Red Waste. It was not a sight she wished to see again. "I had to take Meereen to feed my people." You took Meereen, he told her, yet still you lingered. "To be a queen." You are a queen, her bear said. In Westeros. "It is such a long way," she complained. "I was tired, Jorah. I was weary of war. I wanted to rest, to laugh, to plant trees and see them grow. I am only a young girl." No. You are the blood of the dragon. The whispering was growing fainter, as if Ser Jorah were falling farther behind. Dragons plant no trees. Remember that. Remember who you are, what you were made to be. Remember your words. "Fire and Blood," Daenerys told the swaying grass.

And here is where everything changes. She has spent time trying to protect innocent lives, to make peace, not war, to be loved and accepted by Meereen. But here, she decides that it is time to do away with that. Meereen is not her home, Westeros is, and it's time to wake the dragon and burn Yunkai. No longer will she be burdened by the idea of a cost of innocent lives, no longer will she fear herself, and no longer will she linger. When the time comes, she will burn her enemies and leave for Westeros.

I need to make a few things clear here, however. For one, I don't think she's mad now, this is just her resolving her internal conflict. For another, I don't care what she does to the slavers. They deserve what's coming for them. She will still care about the innocent, but she's now going to go full-blooded Targaryen and burn cities to the ground, and this will mean massive collateral damage she will try to rationalize away.

Daenerys has now transformed into a different, much darker character, which I feel will continue to define her for the rest of the series. She is now the Mother of Dragons, in her entirety, and Essos is about to bleed and burn. I really appreciate how GRRM put this together, and that she didn't stay fire and blood after Astapor. His character development is realistic, and sometimes the development is not linear. In part 3, I will be discussing predictions about Daenerys's arc and story in TWOW, more specifically what she will do in Essos.

[sheepofice]

So I’m rewatching Game of Thrones: Season 2

Tyrion strutting in there at the very beginning, throwing shade at Joffrey, praising Myrcella and Tommen, condolences for poor Sansa who he has absolutely no reason to be nice to (her mother abducted him, remember?) AND THEN STRUTTING INTO THE SMALL COUNCIL WHISTLING THE RAINS OF CASTAMERE, BEING ALL “HI SIS, DAD MADE ME HAND OF THE KING, HOW YA DOIN’?” !!!!!!

I wasn’t going anywhere with this, I just love this beginning and confident S2 Tyrion Lannister. Best version of Tyrion in my opinion.

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DAVOS! I LOVE YOU AND I WANT TO HUG YOU AND YOU ONLY DESERVE THE BEST!

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Jaime, I forgot what an absolute asshole you could be. What is it with Lannisters that just never shut up?

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Theon. You are a wanker. And I pity you so much. Like, really, every scene with you hurts me because you just KEEP ON MAKING ALL THE WRONG DECISIONS! Yara is cool though.

---

Huh. Also forgot how early Lord Bolton came into play, and gods, that soft and calm voice of his. Such a bloody fantastic job of casting. (I’m having feelings for Michael McElhatton that I DID NOT have before. Please recommend something for me to watch to get him Out Of My System).

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Woman in the battlefield: *sawing a foot* Robb Stark: *aroused*

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Yeah, fine, maybe I’m rewatching because I need to see every damn moment where Sansa and Tyrion interact? Maybe I squealed at the “What is the meaning of this!” scene? Maybe I just think they are fantastic?

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Petyr Baelish and his impeccable timing. Give a woman the remains of her husband and hit on her as well. Solid plan.

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Underrated Renly moment: “Born amidst salt and smoke. Is he a ham?”

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I can’t watch anything that happens North of the Wall because I know like half of the extras! I don’t know what’s happening in a scene because I’m just spotting my partner and tons of other people I’ve been around for the past two decades! Maybe I do live in a pretty cool country. No green screens for the scenes here, just ridiculously photogenic landscape. Shit I heard once from the extras: "Remember when we almost threw Kit over a cliff? Director just said throw him, so we did."

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Theon. Don’t. You Idiot.

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Tywin, if you think you have a highborn Northern girl as your cupbearer, whyyyy don’t you try to find out who it is?!

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Jon Snow still annoys me. Ygritte mocking him is one of my favourite shit though. “And I didn't want to want it, but oh! I did! And he spread me legs and ... ruined. The shame of it! Now I can never marry a perfumed lord. What will me poor savage father say?”

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Look, that scene with Jaime and his Lannister cousin reminiscing about being squires for great men is just SO REAL. Men reminiscing about moments when they went from boys to men.

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Don’t have anything witty to say about the Battle of Blackwater Bay. It was just a fantastic episode and Tyrion was so. damn. cool! YOU GO GET THEM! ... while your sister gets shitfaced, which I still think is hilarious.

---

I don’t remember exactly how Daenerys’s storyline was in the books, but I do remember that they went way off in S2 and I was very annoyed at the ending. Yeah. I just remember that I was annoyed, but not why. Great.

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

May you give some tips on how to write about the whole castles, royalty, peasants, knights type of story? Hehe thankies!

How to Write About Medieval Europe

The Medieval times play a huge role in many forms of media today, from TV shows to books to movies. It’s often romanticized and glamorized to make for a good plot, and sifting through what’s real and what’s fake can be a daunting task. 

Not to mention that the way of life in the Medieval times is vastly different from our lifestyles now! There was a lot more rules, a lot more pomp and circumstance, and a lot more death!

In this post, I’ll mostly be covering a time period around the 1400s to 1600s, with all of the classic knights, nobles, and kings and queens that everyone has come to know and love!

So how exactly do you write about medieval times?

1.Know the People

The Medieval times attached a lot more importance to titles and wealth than we do today. The number of names and titles can get a bit confusing at times, so please try to bear with me.

All of these are ordered from lowest rank to highest rank. 

Category One- Lower/Middle Classes (Could be collectively called Peasants)

1. Slave

Slaves are bought and sold, usually owned by nobles but sometimes purchased by some of the wealthier peasants to help out with farm work. 

They are seen as property and nothing more, and their masters can do with them as they please. 

There is rarely a penalty for killing or harming one’s own slave, but one may be punished for destruction of property if they killed or harmed a slave that wasn’t theirs.

2. Serf

Not a slave, but not free, either. 

They live on the property of a noble’s manor and are bound by the feudal system to pay rent in shares of their crops. 

They must ask the nobles permission to marry and to leave, but are overall left to their own devices. 

Their lives were still hard, however, and often they starved or fell to sickness. 

They remained serfs, however, mostly because they needed the protection of the nobles’ knights from barbarian invaders.

 If the manor of the noble was sold, the serfs came along with it.

3. Peasant

Peasants may be poor, but they are completely free. 

They often live in villages together and made their livings as masons, blacksmiths, tailors, shoemakers, farriers, carpenters, and much more. 

If they were particularly good at their craft, they may just earn enough money to be considered a noble; social mobility is not as rigid for peasants as it is for serfs and slaves.

Category 2- Knights

Knights are  in an entirely different category from the peasants and the nobility, though they are more closely associated with the nobles and garner just as much/if not more respect as them.

1. Squire

Essentially a knight in training. 

They accompany a knight on their travels and serve as their attendant, learning from the knight’s ways while polishing their armor and being their cupbearer.

2. Knight

Addressed as “Sir (Firstname)” for a man or “Dame(Firstame)” for a woman. 

Knights were hired to protect and are sworn to the code of chivalry, which is a set of rules that dictates behavior on and off the battlefield. 

For instance, knights weren’t permitted to fight an unarmed man or to kill someone whose back was turned. If an enemy was disarmed during a fight, the knight is supposed to wait for them to retrieve their weapon before resuming.

 Knights were required to be expert swordsman and bowman, as well as good riders. They also needed to be good at supporting their super-heavy armor

Category 3- Nobility

All of the nobility classes can have overlapping jobs; their titles vary on account of how much land they own. 

These nobles are given a fief, or a plot of land, by the King/Queen. They are then expected to pay taxes to the ruler and provide soldiers when needed.

1. Lord/Lady

Addressed as “My Lord/My Lady.”

2. Baron/Baroness

Addressed as “My Lord/My Lady.” 

Usually the spouse of a baron/baroness does not share the title and is simply referred to “My Lord/My Lady” unless they’re a baron/baroness in their own right.

3. Viscount/Viscountess

Addressed as “My Lord/My Lady”

4. Earl(Also known as Count)/Countess

Addressed as “Earl of (Place name)/Countess of (Place name)”

5. Marquis/Marquise

Addressed as “Marquis/Marquise of (Place name).

6. Duke/Duchess

Addressed as “Your Grace.”

Owns the most land out of any of the other nobles

Princes and Princesses can be granted titles of Duke and Duchess.

Category 4- Royalty

1. Princes/Princesses

Addressed as “Your Highness.” 

In traditional medieval Europe, the heir to the crown was usually the firstborn son. In the absence of a son, the crown will be given to the firstborn daughter.

They can also be granted other titles such as Duke and Duchess if their parents/siblings who come into power offer them land

A lot of squabbles/dramas caused by heirs; some killed by siblings in order to assume the throne

2. King/Queen

Addressed as “Your Majesty” or “Your Grace.” 

These rulers own all of the land in the kingdom and simply “rent out” property to the nobles, which can be revoked at any time. 

They levy taxes and have their own personal army to protect and wage war against other kingdoms. 

The nomenclature of Kings and Queens can be quite difficult, especially when marriage becomes involved, so I’m going to try my best to help:

When a King inherits the throne: If he marries a woman, she becomes Queen. If he marries a man, that man becomes a Prince.

When a Queen inherits the throne: If she marries a man, he becomes Prince. If she marries a woman, that woman becomes Princess.

2. Do Some Research If You’re Unsure

If you need help figuring out all of the dynamics and certain duties of all of these people, it can help to surf the web! Researching kingdoms such as England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire might help, though be careful; France had emperors and empresses at one point! 

There are very specific differences between different kingdoms, and you have to make sure you take those into account, especially if you’re writing historical fiction!

 3. Some Recommendations that May Be Helpful

Lucky for you, there are a TON of other books, movies, and TV shows that you’ll be able to draw inspiration from! Here are some things that I recommend!

Just a note, many of these aren’t necessarily medieval or focus a lot on fantasy, too, so I’m sorry if some of them aren’t exactly what you’re looking for!

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Game of Thrones on HBO

The Crown on Netflix

The Witcher on Netflix

Reign on Netflix

Victoria on Amazon Prime

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Hope this helped, and happy writing!

[disregardcanon]

Can I ask for 2? Catelyn and Arya

Catelyn

First impression

wow, this is my mom. someone took my mother and put her in this book

Impression now

catelyn is a character who did literally everything in her whole life according to the system. she never strayed from the path, played the game of thrones when it was asked of her, was occasionally kind and occasionally cruel, and was bitten in the ass for it. it’s no surprise that she came back from the dead possessed by the bitterness and rage she was never able to pursue in real life.

and it is just FASCINATING to see lady stoneheart at work. i really can’t wait to see what happens with that plotline more than anything else

Favorite moment

when she took brienne into her service. like, it was just such a poignant and sweet moment. she knew what the world was going to do to brienne and she took her and she protected her as best as she could at that moment.

Idea for a story

i have a years old wip where catelyn gets de-aged and gets to hang out with her kids at winterfell for a bit. they’re all shocked by how headstrong and smart she is, and they’re all left with a much more nuanced look at their mother. and arya’s unsure if knowing that her mother was far more like she was as a child than she expected makes her happy or deeply sad and scared.

Unpopular opinion

catelyn is one of the most normal and decent people in the series. like ned, she suffers the problem of being too caught up in the status quo, but she is not some sort of devil woman for sometimes being mean to the kid she thought was her husband’s bastard son. fuck off

Favorite relationship

honestly, catelyn has so many dynamics that are just to die for to choose. if you put a gun to my head i’d probably say her uncle brynden because it’s so rare to see such a pure and loving relationship in these books, but it was a hard choice

Favorite headcanon

she was not only her father’s favorite child, but his preference for heir. if he weren’t such a traditionalist he would have figured out a way to put her as heir to riverrun

Arya

First impression

i loved her at first sight. i don’t think that’s any surprise because arya was engineered to be loveable

Impression now

i definitely don’t dislike arya, but i just was very bored by the faceless man plot. i love her and hope that she gets plots that don’t bore me to tears in later books

Favorite moment

i loved everything about the cupbearer to roose bolton subplot, actually

Idea for a story

i’ve always held the idea of a story where she’s trapped in king’s landing with sansa dear to my heart. brienne eventually DOES save them because arya does not trust petyr’s machinations... but when brienne of tarth shows up with her earnestness and her sword and her tales of their mother... they do trust her. and they get out

Unpopular opinion

i could not give a single shit whether or not arya grows up to be pretty. like, why are people so hung up on this? she’s nine years old? her growing up to be prettier than sansa isn’t the gotcha you think it is.

like i don’t mind arya being pretty, but it’s not some sort of cosmic karma for her to be. it just doesn’t matter

Favorite relationship

not to be a walking cliche, but she and jon’s relationship is so soft and sweet: the little outcasts finding a special solace in each other.

Favorite headcanon

sometimes i entertain arya in a romantic relationship, but i tend to like aro ace arya best

[100gayicons]

Ganymede was a handsome young Trojan prince who caught the eye of the Sky God, Zeus. Zeus was so enamored that he transformed into an eagle and abducted Ganymede, taking him to Mount Olympus. He offered the youth the position of Cupbearer (pouring wine or mead) to the Gods. With the position came eternal youth and immortality.

According to Homer’s “The Iliad”, Ganymede's father Tros mourned his loss. So Zeus gave him a gift of horses (the same that rode by the gods) as a consolation prize.

Ganymede is linked to the Constellation Aquarius and is also the name of the Planet Jupiter’s largest moon (and 9th largest object in the Solar System). It is also the only moon with its own magnetic field and a sub-surface ocean with more water than all of Earth’s surface water combined.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-juno-takes-first-images-of-jovian-moon-ganymedes-north-pole